Pete and Pierre: GMs raised in the nation's capital under fire to turn teams around

DALLAS — In facing media scrums at the same hotel a couple of hours apart on Thursday, two Ottawa-born-and-bred NHL general managers with similar first names and predicaments took different demeanours and approaches into their sessions.

First up at high noon was Pete Chiarelli, who wore a seriously stern look as he touched on how he plans to get his lowly Edmonton Oilers back on track — including the possibility of dealing away the 10th overall pick in Friday’s draft.

“There’s been a lot of chatter this week,” said Chiarelli, the former Senators assistant GM who has also won a Cup as the boss in Boston. “We’re involved in a lot of the chatter. I’ve said publicly we’ll put our pick in play, preferably for a defence. That, of course, has led to teams asking if we’d put it in play for a forward, and there’s been discussions on that.

“Every year there’s a lot of chatter. I think with the advent of the shopping week, I think there’s more chatter and consequently more trades in this period. We’re part of the chatter and we’ll see where it goes.”

At 2 p.m., Pierre Dorion strolled into his room looking remarkably calm and confident for a guy who has fought as many fires as he has, and knows more are just over the horizon. The “shopping week” Chiarelli referred to is a free-agent courting period that begins Sunday and runs right up to July 1, when UFA’s go up for sale, and when Dorion was asked what he’d say to get free agents to sign with his lowly Senators, he gleamed.

“Come to Ottawa. We’re going to be a good team,” he stated. “We were really close a year ago. We had a bump in the road. We have good players. You can be part of this group … part of a good team and build towards a great future in Ottawa.”

That “bump in the road” was more like falling off a cliff, but whatever. Dorion looked very much like he has a trick up his sleeve that will fix all.

What could it be? Sure sounds like the fourth and 22nd picks will remain Ottawa’s possession, although Dorion said he’s still open to offers.

“Great conversation in the elevator today with someone here,” he said, conjuring up the unfortunate memory of the chat a former Senators scout had in an elevator that led the team to use its first-round pick on Brian Lee rather than Marc Staal many moons ago. “We’re always listening.”

Dorion actually rebuffed every attempt to have him discuss possible trades, even though it is still widely believed Erik Karlsson sits high on the block. He didn’t want to get into “any specific details or strategies” that might “tip our hand to any teams to what our plans are.”

Has the plan to offer Karlsson a contract extension on July 1 changed?

“I think our focus this weekend is about the draft,” he said, acknowledging the question without answering it. “Adding these two players to our group, and that’s what our sole focus is on this weekend.”

Has he spoke with Karlsson at least let him know what’s going on, so nothing surprises his captain?

“I’m not going to talk about my private conversations with any players,” Dorion said. “I think that’s between the player and myself.”

It’s quite clear the Senators have concluded Mike Hoffman’s attitude was a large part of the problem. But how are they going to replace his offence? Dorion gushed about Mikkel Boedker being a good player, pointing out that he was San Jose’s fifth-leading scorer in the playoffs rather than the fact he has one goal in 10 games — or he scored just three times in the final two months of the season.

“Don’t want to tip our hand too much, but we have a good plan in place,” Dorion said. “We feel comfortable that we’ll be able to produce enough goals to definitely challenge for a playoff spot. “At the same time, we’re going to change how we do some things, of how we play. We’re confident with those changes we’re going to be really good, a really good hockey team that will score more goals.”

It will be very interesting to see what both Pete and Pierre do on Friday, but particularly Dorion, the man with a plan that looks very confident he’s going to pull the Senators out of a blaze.

BITS AND PIECES

Dorion consulted with his No. 1 centre, Matt Duchene, when acquiring Boedker. The two were teammates for 18 games with the Colorado Avalanche in 2015-16. “Not about his hockey abilities but about him as a person,” Dorion said. “Matt’s words to us were ‘he’s a great guy, he’s perfect for our room and the culture we’re trying to build.” … Dorion laughed at the suggestion he was under orders not to trade Hoffman within the division. “You can talk to every GM in our division. They all got calls about Mike Hoffman,” he said. He was also not surprised the Sharks flipped him to the Florida Panthers. “Just because of the history between Mike Hoffman and Peter DeBoer,” said Dorion, referring to how the Sharks coach was the bench boss of the Kitchener Rangers who guided a 17-year-old Hoffman through the OHL. “I know I’m only a second-year GM but I have a pretty good idea of what goes on in the league.” … Learned this week that first-year NHL coaches generally are given a salary of $850,000, while a coach who has done decent in his initial three years usually gets bumped to $1.5 million. That’s what Barry Trotz was making while leading the Washington Capitals to the Cup. Trotz, who was a very good coach in Nashville for a number of years, will now pull in $20 million over the next five seasons with the Islanders.

DOING DALLAS

Meeting friends for a drink in downtown Dallas can be a little confusing when there’s one bar called the Green Door and another called the Green Room, and they are blocks apart. The Green Door had the jukebox (they’re not called that anymore, are they?) that was fed a steady diet of dollar bills for Tragically Hip songs on Wednesday, then promised to show the Redblacks season opener on Thursday … The play-of-the-week nod so far goes to Darcy Oake (son of Hockey Night in Canada reporter Scott Oake), who flashed his illusionist skills at the NHL awards ceremony in Las Vegas. The save of the week was by Calder Trophy winner Mathew Barzal, who stopped a dagger Oake threw that was headed for his jewels. Or did he even really throw it?

DORION HAPPY TO BE TALKING HOCKEY

Pierre Dorion sounded as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve.

But then, that’s understandable given the circumstances of the past few weeks.

Rather than dealing with the off-ice dramas that have been hounding his team, the Senators GM is about to get an opportunity to once again do what others in his position do on more of a full-time basis.

That is, focus on hockey.

“We went through scenarios through the morning,” he said of preparations for Round 1 of the NHL draft on Friday. “It was one of the best meetings I’ve had with scouts in 20 years. Talking about what we’re going to do, what we plan on doing at (pick) 4, what possibilities are at (pick) 22, how these players will impact our organization moving forward. We’re just excited.”

While prognostications for next season start coming out, the Senators will no doubt be viewed as a last-place team. Some experts are already in disbelief that Dorion is choosing to hold on to his first-round pick Friday, rather than let it go to Colorado to complete the trade for Matt Duchene so the Senators could have a shot at the highly touted Jack Hughes in 2019.

Especially if they are going to deal Erik Karlsson away.

But Dorion believes the Senators actually have a shot at the playoffs next season — partly because they’ll have Duchene from the outset.

“Through adversity, we find people’s true character,” Dorion said when asked about all the off-ice stuff the team has had to deal with of late. “We find out who wants to be with you, in a war and tough times, It’s great when people want to be around you when you’re a goal away from getting into the Stanley Cup final, but we really find people’s true values and true character and real integrity when it’s difficult situations.

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